Texas announces hundreds of schools receiving pre-K grants

Kiah Collier, Texas Tribune

Published
12:20 pm CDT, Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Buses and parents drop off their children Friday May 6, 2016 at the Pre-K 4 SA South Education Center. This facility is one of four education centers around the city. Rep. Joaquin Castro is trying to take the concept of Pre-K for SA to a national level. less

Buses and parents drop off their children Friday May 6, 2016 at the Pre-K 4 SA South Education Center. This facility is one of four education centers around the city. Rep. Joaquin Castro is trying to take the ... more

Photo: Julysa Sosa/ For The San Antonio Express-News

Photo: Julysa Sosa/ For The San Antonio Express-News

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Buses and parents drop off their children Friday May 6, 2016 at the Pre-K 4 SA South Education Center. This facility is one of four education centers around the city. Rep. Joaquin Castro is trying to take the concept of Pre-K for SA to a national level. less

Buses and parents drop off their children Friday May 6, 2016 at the Pre-K 4 SA South Education Center. This facility is one of four education centers around the city. Rep. Joaquin Castro is trying to take the ... more

Photo: Julysa Sosa/ For The San Antonio Express-News

Texas announces hundreds of schools receiving pre-K grants

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Texas will divvy up $116 million among 578 school districts and charter schools to bolster high-quality pre-kindergarten programs, Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Tuesday.

State lawmakers approved the grant program during last year’s legislative session after Gov. Greg Abbott named early education as his top legislative priority, though some critics argued that the grants didn't go far enough.

The funding will reach nearly half of the state's more than 1,200 school districts and charters. Qualifying districts will receive up to $1,500 per student, meaning larger districts are getting bigger grant awards. The Houston school district, for example, will receive $9.2 million total while many smaller ones will receive just over $3,600. The awards will be paid out in two installments: the first one coming immediately to retroactively cover the 2015-16 school year, and another this fall for the upcoming school year.

“Implementation of this important grant program, which remains a priority of Gov. Abbott, provides important educational support to our youngest Texans,” Morath said in a statement. “By working to ensure and expand high quality prekindergarten programs across our state, we take an important step toward ensuring every child is prepared for the classroom from the very first day.”

The passage of House Bill 4 during last year's legislative session was uncertain at times amid criticism from staunch conservatives — including those on a panel that advises Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — who saw it as an expansion of state-funded pre-K.

Early education advocates also initially lobbed criticisms at the legislation, hoping it would emerge stronger from the legislative meat grinder. They complained that it did not mandate full-day pre-K or fully restore a similar, $200 million grant program lawmakers gutted in 2011. (The state currently funds half-day pre-K programs for students who are needy, including those in foster care, or those from military families.)

At one point, the legislation set aside $130 million for the program. That later fell to $118 million before landing at $116 million.

But Abbott, and the lawmakers who championed the legislation on his behalf, stressed that the grant program would incentivize high-quality programs by allocating funding to districts that met certain standards including certified teachers and a parent engagement plan. It also would require districts to report pre-K enrollment and other indicators to the state for the first time, as they do for K-12, they noted.